I have some 'free time' today so I have decided to head out and pick up some new components and utilise the parts I have lying around to set up my first Unix machine. What flavours do the HTS community use/prefer? Any words of wisdom or cautions?

It depends on what you wanna do with it.. Just for starters? A nice well-rounded bloated distro? Ubuntu.Something bare? That you'd rather build from scratch? Arch Linux.Wanna be a little different and daring? *BSD.Wanna be cool like mShred? Slackware.All of the above? Test out in VMware's on a box you already have.Profit.

mShred wrote:It depends on what you wanna do with it.. Just for starters? A nice well-rounded bloated distro? Ubuntu.Something bare? That you'd rather build from scratch? Arch Linux.Wanna be a little different and daring? *BSD.Wanna be cool like mShred Centip3de? Slackware OPENSuse.All of the above? Test out in VMware's on a box you already have.Profit.

@OP: It really depends on what you want to do with it... Granted that all Linux distro's are more or less the same, each is a bit different. For instance; Ubuntu is the general starting point, but like mShred said is rather bloated. If you want a smaller faster distro try damnsmalllinux (DSL). If you want to make it your own, go with Arch. If you want to be like the coolest kid on the block (-ahem- Centip3de -ahem-) go with OPENSuse. These lists could go on forever, but it's really up to opinion and personal choice. I'd suggest you go do some more research and pick the one YOU like best.

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. -Rick Cook

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. -Rick Cook